


I'm a little lamb who's lost in the wood

by camichats



Category: Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe - Guardian Angels, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canonical Character Death, Forbidden Love, Getting Together, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Underage Drinking, M/M, Mentions of Suicide, References to Drugs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:00:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27229996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camichats/pseuds/camichats
Summary: Tony was annoyed by his guardian angel. And then he went and fell in love with him. Happy was still kind of annoying.
Relationships: Happy Hogan/Tony Stark
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17
Collections: Tony Stark Bingo Mark IV





	I'm a little lamb who's lost in the wood

**Author's Note:**

> Title: I’m a little lamb who’s lost in the wood  
> Collaborator: camichats  
> Card Number: 4049  
> Square Filled: S4-Myths and Legends  
> Main Pairing: Happy Hogan/Tony Stark  
> Rating: Teen  
> Major Tags/Warnings/Triggers: Forbidden love, Mentions of: alcoholism, drugs, suicide  
> Summary: Tony was annoyed by his guardian angel. And then he went and fell in love with him. Happy was still kind of annoying.  
> Word Count: 2,002

"So," Tony said slowly, "how do you get the job for being a guardian angel?" 

"You don't." 

"Okay, but is that me specifically that doesn't get it, or the general 'you' that means you're like, selected for it." 

Happy didn't say anything. 

"I thought guardian angels were supposed to be cheerful to steer you in the right direction. Lead by example or something." 

"You thought wrong," Happy grumbled. 

"Clearly." What a joy to have around. The name was probably less of a seven dwarves thing and more like his parents had taken one look at his screaming baby face and known that he was never going to get better. 

Tony was totally looking forward to this. Not. He was in college! This had been his opportunity to finally get away from his parent's watchful eyes, and all he'd ended up doing was exchanging them for a grumpy guardian angel that didn't even like him. "Are you this pleasant to all of your charges?" 

"Yes," he said flatly. It might have been a joke. Tony wasn't sure. There was a pause, then Happy sighed. "Look, I'm here to make sure you don't put yourself in a situation where you can get hurt. Think of me like a bodyguard, not an angel. The stories are misleading." 

* * *

Happy snatched the cup from his hand with a glare. A look that was returned by Tony, but he _really_ got pissed when Happy dumped the drink. "What the hell!" 

"You don't need to be drinking that." 

"For fuck's sake, it was just beer!" 

"You're sixteen." 

"So? The legal drinking age got changed, like, a decade ago, stop freaking out." 

"You have classwork you should be doing." 

"What happened to your whole I'm-not-here-to-babysit-you thing?" 

"You're a special case," Happy said, and he didn't sound happy about it. He said special the same way Howard did. Special was code for 'Tony is the biggest pain in my ass and if I could get away with not talking to him, I one hundred percent would'. 

Tony grit his teeth. He'd been good enough to summon a guardian angel to his side, but not good enough to actually make the guy give a shit about him. Typical. He'd been lucky enough to get born into a family with a shit-ton of money, but there was nothing to make either of his parents care about him beyond the list of accomplishments he had. Maybe if he caused enough of a stink, they'd have to pay attention to him. It hadn't worked with Happy so far, but maybe it would with his parents. "Can I switch you out for a guardian angel that doesn't suck ass?" 

"I really wish you could." 

* * *

Tony was crying. He got the news that his parents had died in a car accident and he just...

He couldn't make himself stop. Happy was there for him. He wished that he wasn't. It just made him feel worse that Happy was here, comforting him, when he didn't even like him. Happy didn't want to be here. He was stuck here. He was looking after Tony because he _had_ to. 

Tony curled up closer to him. He might as well appreciate that Happy wasn't glaring at him for once. 

* * *

Tony really didn't like himself. He'd known that for a while. He dug himself down to new lows every year, but it just got worse with Happy around. Happy had sort of come around to being his guardian angel in that he wasn't constantly glaring, but he still didn't, y'know, _like_ Tony. He tolerated him. He looked after him because that's what he had to do, but he did comfort Tony a lot more than he used to. Gave him compliments every once in a while when he had deserved it, and it made Tony equal parts more desperate to gain his approval and more determined to see how far he could push him. 

Meanwhile, Tony decided that the best use of his time would be to fall in love with the one person in his life that couldn't leave him. Guardian angels didn't get to decide their charge was too annoying and pack up. Happy was stuck with him, whether he liked it or not. 

* * *

Happy knocked the drink out of his hands, fuming. 

"What the fuck, man!" Tony yelled, scowling up at him. Everyone in the world knew that Tony Stark had a guardian angel-- so much for being friends with Tiberius Stone, the ass-- but it didn't make it any easier for all of them to handle him screaming at seemingly nothing. "It was just a drink. Lighten up!" They'd had this argument a dozen times before, and it never went anymore. Tony screamed, and Happy glared; Tony would down a couple shots just to spite him, and then they'd leave the party. Rinse, repeat. 

"It wasn't _just_ a drink, and you need to stop drinking anyways." 

What did he mean that it wasn't 'just' a drink? Had there been something else in it? Because if that was the case, he could've said so instead of getting physical about it. "Are you a guardian angel or a life manager? Get your fucking nose out of my business; I just want to let loose!" 

"'Letting loose' is all you've been doing for a year, Tony! Being an alcoholic isn't going to solve anything." 

"It'll make me feel better," Tony said, face twisting into a sneer. He knew, though, that it wouldn't. He wouldn't feel better, and it wouldn't solve anything. He was already an alcoholic, so he might as well lean into it. 

"No it won't, and you know it," Happy said. 

"Get fucked," Tony spit. 

* * *

Tony got rid of all the alcohol. He'd lost a month. An entire month. A fucking month where he couldn't remember a single thing that had happened. He'd been working; he had evidence that he'd been working, but he couldn't remember it. He knew that having a support group helped people stay sober, so he looked into that, but Alcoholics Anonymous was really fucking religious, and he knew that wouldn't help him. 

"I'm proud of you," Happy said quietly, once all the bottles were gone and Tony felt like he was going to fall apart. 

Tony snorted. "Sure." 

"I am." 

"Yeah, I'm sure you can brag about me at your next guardian angel meeting. 'My client stopped being a fucking alcoholic' woohoo. Throw a damn parade." 

"Just because there's not a celebration doesn't mean it's not worthwhile." 

Tony wiped at his eyes. "You get that from a fortune cookie?" 

"What makes you think guardian angels don't write those?" 

It startled a laugh out of Tony. Happy didn't joke very often. It made the times that he did feel all that more special. 

* * *

"What's wrong with Obie?" Tony asked, frowning. 

"He's not trustworthy." 

"He was plenty trustworthy when I was trying to drink myself to an early grave." Not something that Tony was proud of, but Obie had been there. He'd taken care of the company and covered for Tony when he was noticeably drunk at an event. The reason Stark Industries was still doing well was because of him. 

"He wasn't trustworthy," Happy said, his face set in his usual stern manner. "He was looking after his own interests." 

"So- what, you want me to fire him? Just 'cause you said so?" 

"No, because I know you wouldn't listen." 

"At least you're learning," Tony said. Happy didn't take the bait to start an argument. He pretty much never did. He had a nice handle on his emotions, which was a lot more than Tony could say for himself. 

"I think he's dirty. You should look into it." 

"Do you have any idea how many business men are doing something illegal? Most of it doesn't even matter," Tony said, rolling his eyes. Even as he said it, it didn't sit right in his stomach. He'd used to think that. It didn't feel like he did anymore. Maybe he'd just been parroting Howard when he said it, because he'd heard Howard say something like it enough times to know that while he had standards, they weren't necessarily the ethical kind. 

* * *

"Are you okay?" Tony asked. Happy seemed... droopy. Guardian angels didn't actually have wings, but Tony imagined that if they did, Happy's would be all loose and sad. 

Happy startled, making Tony's eyes go wide. Happy wasn't _capable_ of being surprised-- or so he'd thought. In his defense, he'd thought it was a built in feature for being a guardian angel. 

"I'm going to take that as a no. What's up?" Tony asked, sitting next to him on the couch. He sat pretty close without thinking about it since Happy had spent the past two years trying to convince him that he needed regular human contact. With Rhodey on another continent, that meant Happy was the only one available to offer it, and he'd made it clear that it was _always_ on offer. 

"Don't worry about it." 

"You worry about everything I'm doing, so why shouldn't I worry about you?" 

"It's not really how that works," Happy said. It looked like it took him a lot of energy to pull his shoulders back to a straighter, more normal posture for himself. 

"Then we're changing how it works," Tony said easily, leaning his head against Happy's shoulder. 

"Tony," Happy said. One little word. Just his name, but it was filled with so much meaning. He didn't think that Tony got to speak it into being. Personally, Tony thought he should have more faith in him. He'd done the impossible before. 

"What? You're my guardian angel, and this is our relationship, so that means we're in charge of it, right? That's what you keep telling me." 

"Yes, but-" 

"No but's," Tony said, covering Happy's mouth with his hand. "Just tell me what's bothering you." He took his hand off and looked at Happy expectantly. Happy was a lot bigger than him, but only a little bit taller. He had to look up to talk to him when they were both standing, but when they were sitting like this, he could just look over and it was fine. 

Happy stayed stubbornly silent. 

"Fine, be that way." Tony leaned his head against Happy's shoulder and stayed that way until his fingers itched enough that he couldn't bear sitting still anymore. 

* * *

"What happens when a charge falls in love with their guardian angel?" Rhodey asked, looking about the area that he knew Happy was in. 

Tony glared at him but relayed Happy's response. "He says they get reassigned." A pause, as Happy added something, and Tony looked at Happy incredulously. "Wait, seriously?" 

"What?" Jim asked. Tony didn't answer. He poked him. "What did he say?" 

"Um." Tony turned his attention back to his best friend. "Apparently, so many charges were killing themselves to be with their guardian angel when they were about to not need them anymore, that they started immediately reassigning them when they start to catch feelings." 

"Shit," Rhodey breathed. 

"Yeah," Tony said, shifting uncomfortably. 

Jim felt bad for bringing it up. He'd sort of been hoping that the answer would be 'nothing' or 'it's frowned on but it happens'. He hadn't meant to make it worse for Tony; that was the last thing he'd been trying to do. 

* * *

"If you got reassigned, does that mean that I'd never see you again?" 

"Depends on the situation," Happy said. "Most likely, no, you wouldn't see me again until after you died." 

"Who do I have to negotiate with?" 

Happy frowned at him. "Why are you _wanting_ to negotiate?" 

Tony blinked. "Seriously? You don't know?" 

"Know what?" 

Tony had always been better at show than tell. He grabbed Happy's face and kissed him. 

Happy flushed when Tony pulled back, but he didn't move further away from him, like Tony had been half afraid he would. 

Tony licked his lips, wishing he could kiss him again. "So who do I talk to?" 


End file.
